Remembrance
by BingBong036
Summary: This takes place 2 years after Forever. Cole travels to CA to get Isabel and bring her back to Mercy Falls. But things have changed from what Isabel remembers and she has to choose whether or not she wants to live with the changes and Cole or whether she should go back CA on her own. *No spoilers for Sinner [I still haven't read it ;)]*
1. Last Day

**A/N so this is my first FanFic! Yay! I hope you guys like it. Obviously I don't own Shiver or its characters. Please review, fav, follow, etc. I really appreciate it and I hope you guys enjoy Remembrance!  
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• Isabel •  
I was slouching in my seat; the heat was so intense on the late June day. Finals start tomorrow and I couldn't care less. I took my finals early; I told the administration that my family was going on a vacation, but that was complete bullshit. I haven't seen my parents in a little over a year. My father divorced my mother and my mom moves about the country with some rich guy whom which she has convinced herself she loves. I live with the family's maid in Orange County, California. The bell rung and I snatched my bag and headed towards my car.  
"Have a nice summer, Bella," Adam Hawkins said. I rolled my eyes. First of all, I hated when people called me Bella. Second of all, that idiot has been flirting with me the whole school year and I'm sure he'll see me sometime this summer and continue where he left off. Nevertheless, I walked out the building without turning around or responding. I kept reminding myself, "You're going off to college in August, you'll never see them again."  
As I approached my car, I could tell there was a figure in it. _Probably Adam's douche-bag friends. How the hell did they get in my car anyway?_  
I pulled open the door, "Get out before I call the police." I said blankly without looking at who it was.  
"Well, they'll be relieved, according to my fan website I've been MIA for over 2 days now. The horror!" I snapped my head up, needless to say, there sat Cole St. Clair of Narkotika.  
"Cole!" I reached over the seat and hugged him. I noticed him look down my shirt as I leaned over. "You haven't changed much."  
"Ha, I could say the same about you, but I wasn't expecting this much of a reaction."  
"Well I haven't seen you in 2 years!" I climbed out of the car and he followed after me.  
"Yeah sorry 'bout that. Sam didn't think it was wise for me to come out here."  
"He didn't?"  
"Nah, he said it would be 'Bringing up bad memories'"  
"Why would he think that?"  
"Well I mean Grace is still in the hospital and your brother is still dead." That was Cole for you. Blatant. He doesn't sugar coat anything. Not that I wanted him too. I was over Jack's death now. MaryAnn, the maid, couldn't believe how little I actually grieved. But I did miss Grace.  
"How's she doing?" I asked.  
"The docs woke her up from her coma a few weeks ago, but about 2 weeks later, one of the incisions from one of her surgeries got infected. Thank god Sam stuck with her though. A few weeks before they were able to wake her up, the doctors said they wanted to pull the plug. But Sam said 'no way' and then about a week and a half later, her heart beat started picking up. So a few days later they thought it would be a good idea to wake her up."  
"Thank god. But what about the infection?"  
"It is prolonging her stay in the hospital, but she should be better soon."  
"So much of her life has been taken away from her. Is she going to go back to high school? Is she going to go to college?"  
"Well that's why I'm here. A little while ago Sam and I found some interesting documents in a box under some clothes in the old shed. We were looking for an old jacket of Sam's that Grace was asking for."  
"What did the papers say?"  
"It was kind of like a puzzle of a scavenger hunt. It was really cool,"  
"And what was the treasure?" I said teasingly.  
"Over 75 grand."  
"Holy crap! From who?"  
"Beck"  
"Beck? Why didn't he tell Sam when Sam got him out of wolf form?"  
"Well there was a more pressing matter at the time."  
"So are you guys using the money to pay for Grace's medical bills?"  
"Nah, Sam started this fund thing online before we knew about the 75 grand. And enough people donated that we didn't need to use more than 2 grand of it."  
"So what are you going to do with the money?"  
"Well I don't need it. Trust me, I got enough from Narkotika. But Sam was thinking about completely renovating Beck's house. So that's it's more modern. And so Grace can get around in it before she completely recovers. I haven't been staying in that house, I got my own apartment. But the band hasn't been working out. I tried to get back into it, but between visits to Grace, helping Sam, and just not wanting to be with the band, I haven't been doing anything helpful. So a few days ago, I told the guys it wasn't working out. They weren't surprised."  
"So what does this have anything to do with me?"  
"Well, I wanted to know if you wanted to move into the house with us once it gets renovated?"  
"Does Sam know that your inviting me to live with you guys?"  
"Ha! God no, he doesn't even know I'm here. I figured he'd figure it out eventually."  
"Cole... I can't... move in with you guys."  
His face dropped, "Why not?"  
"Cause I've been living for 2 years. I have friends and I have college, which, might I add, I'm already signed up for."  
"Isabel, I know you. You probably don't give 2 shits about your 'friends' and what can you do at your actual college that you can't do online? Or you can't do at a college near Mercy Falls?"  
"I-I—"  
"Exactly," he cut me off. "And I know a few things you can do in Mercy Falls that you can't do here," he said suggestively.  
I smiled and decided to play dumb, "And what would that be?"  
"Oh you know, visit your old friends, be with me, see Grace and Sam, be with me, and most importantly, be with me."  
I teased him, "While that is very tempting, I have several admirers here." I looked away, trying not to laugh.  
"Who?!" He demanded.  
"Just a couple starting football players." And as if on cue, I noticed Adam and his friends looking over at me, and I waved at them, smiling. Their reactions were immediate; they started pointing to other guys and jerked their heads up at me as if to say, 'sup'.  
"Them? They look like 5 year olds whose parents just told them they could get to go to Chuck E. Cheese."  
I laughed, "What's wrong?"  
He looked me straight in the eyes, "I don't like guys looking at you like that," he nodded his head towards those guys. "Within the last 2 years, I've realized that you push me. You make me feel like I'm not the most bad-ass person in the room."  
I laughed, "What the hell does that have to do with anything?"  
"I don't know. It's just how I feel. I've been working on that ya know," he looked up at me as he said that, "talking. I wasn't all that good at it before."  
"That I know," I responded.  
"Yeah, well I've gotten better."  
"Says the guy that didn't tell Sam he was inviting someone to live in his house." I smirked as I finished and he started smiling too.  
"That's different," he said defensively.  
"How so?"  
"I specifically chose not to tell him because I knew he would flip out. Before I chose not to tell people what I was doing and feeling cause I didn't want to expose myself."  
I dropped my voice, "Well do you feel exposed now?"  
He looked up through his hair, "Very," I smirked and for the first time in over 2 years, I stretched up, trying to be graceful, and I lightly touched my lips to his. His response was immediate. One of his hands grabbed the back of my neck and the other travelled down my back, but he stopped when he reached the small of my back that peaked through my pulled-up shirt. I didn't know how much the car hid us making out, but I didn't care. I would never see these people again, and if I did at least this might make them leave me alone.  
After a few more seconds, Cole pulled back, either because he knew where this was headed if he didn't, or because he needed to breath. Regardless, I pulled him closer to me and I cuddled against his chest as his arms wrapped around me.  
"Yep, you've definitely changed." He said.  
"How so?" I looked up at him as I asked.  
"You're letting me in. Before you locked me out, in fact, you locked everyone out. You wouldn't let people love you. Remember the time you asked me if you were lovable?" I nodded, "Before you weren't, not because you weren't pretty or funny or anything. But because you wouldn't let people, even if they wanted to. I guess Orange County really did change you," he added with a smirk.  
"Ugh," I groaned, "Ok, I'm not saying I'm going back to Mercy Falls, but if I did, where would I stay? Yes obviously, Beck/Sam's house, but what if Sam says no? Or it's too hard living there with Grace still recovering?"  
"First of all, Sam would never say no to you. Second of all, Grace won't be that bad. She'll just be slow and might need some help doing some things, like changing, getting high objects down, or bending down. Which, I'm almost positive Sam wouldn't have a problem helping her do any of those things. _Third_ of all, ok, say all those things happen, you'll just live with me." He showed a genuine smile.  
"Ha! Yeah right, either both of my parents would kill me or MaryAnn would kill me!"  
"2 questions- since when do you care about your parents? Second, who the hell is MaryAnn?"  
"I don't care about my parents, but they care about me for some unknown reason. Second, MaryAnn is my family's maid."  
"Ok, well you're 18 right? You are legally old enough to do whatever shit pleases you. And you don't honestly plan on bringing MaryAnn to Mercy Falls do you? What with all the crazy stuff that goes on there?"  
"No, I wouldn't bring her. However, I still haven't said that_ I_ would go with you."  
He smiled, "you will."

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**So what do you guys think? I will explain why Grace is in the hospital in future chapters, so if you guys are a little confused, don't worry. Chapters will either be this length or longer. I actually typed this on my phone so I couldn't tell how long it was until I put it on my computer. So for awhile I actually thought this was a short chapter. Haha, okay well I hoped you guys liked it and please review, fav, and follow!**


	2. Elk Street

**A/N Hey guys! So the usually drill, I don't own Shiver. Please review, fav, or follow, blah, blah, blah. Hope you enjoy!**

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I looked out the window as I sat at a stoplight. I've seen that supermarket hundreds of times, but for once, I'm finally appreciating it. And not just the supermarket, everything. Whether I like it or not, Orange County has been my home for the past 2 years. It's not what most people would consider a home though. My friends aren't here, my family isn't here, and I'm not happy here.

I honestly can't imagine going to college here and then graduating and living here. I can't imagine marrying some guy that I barely know or like. If I did marry a man here in Orange County, it would probably be Adam. I shuttered. _I will never marry Adam, _I vow. I can't imagine my children growing up here and then sitting through the same classes taught by the same teachers at the same high school. I could never imagine any of this ever happening and me being happy about it all.

But now that I look at the supermarket and the street and stoplight and people walking, with Cole St. Claire sitting next to me in my car, I feel like a tourist. A tourist passing through and maybe even just spending the night in a hotel and then leaving tomorrow. Cole's offer of going back to Mercy Falls doesn't sound that bad. Seeing Grace and Sam, doesn't sound that bad. And even being with Cole doesn't sound that bad. It's funny how 2 years ago, I couldn't possibly imagine myself being with a narcissistic bastard like Cole. But he's right; he's changed and so have I.

"Green light," Cole said, interrupting my train of thought.

I snapped my head to the right to look at him in the passenger seat, "Huh?" a car honked behind us and I looked at the light. "Oh, sorry," and lightly pressed on the gas pedal.

He laughed, "It's ok. What's on your mind?"

I turned on to Elk Street and passed my 'friend' Ana's house. "Everything. Before you came here, I dreaded going to college here and I practically hated everything that was happening in my life. But now you show up, essentially giving me a plane ticket out of here. Naturally I should take it, but I don't know. Ever since I got here, everything has been planned out; where I go, what I do and when I do it. It's suffocating me. I need to get away, but I'm not sure Mercy Falls is where I should go."

He chuckled, "You're a bit metaphorical today."

I glared at him, "Oh shut up. I'm being serious. I'm not...," I struggled to find the words, "good for you. IF none of this ever happened. If the wolves didn't exist, where would you be? Probably touring the world with your band and hooking up with girls that are each a million times better than me. And I would be sitting in my couch at home in Mercy Falls, next to Jack, listening to my parents argue. Sam might've had the courage to talk to Grace, but otherwise, she would be a perfect straight-A student living with her family, perfectly happy." I pulled into my driveway, "Don't you get it? That's how things are _supposed _to be, Cole. I would still be a little stuck-up, un-happy stereotypical teenage girl, but I'm ok with that."

"Isabel, if the wolves didn't exist, Sam would still be with his parents. And I know they didn't start abusing him until he became a wolf, but think about it. If he did one thing wrong, like get into drugs or I don't know, get a girl pregnant, his parents would've done the same thing to him. So please, don't ever wish that the wolves didn't exist. And I probably would've fallen down the stereotypical 'rock star' path; gotten into drugs, arrested, and then nobody remembers me. Grace is the only one out of all of us that would've been better off if the wolves didn't exist. And if you ask her, she would say the exact opposite; that her life would suck without the wolves and without Sam and you and me."

I sat back into my seat, not knowing what to say.

"Just... stop worrying about 10 years from now. Any and everything will change by then. If you want to go to Mercy Falls with me, then come. But if you don't , you need to say so. And I'll go home alone and probably go on with my life miserably."

Again, I didn't say anything, instead a leaned across to him and I grabbed the back of his neck. I pulled until he leaned in and I smashed my lips against his. I took my other hand and locked it in his hair, securing him in my grasp. He was shocked at first by my sudden assault, but then he regained himself and started to kiss me back. We were trapped by our seatbelts, so we couldn't lean in much farther. His tongue lightly touched the bottom of my lip, and I nearly melted right in the car. I allowed his tongue to enter and that's when I heard a light rap on the window. I broke off immediately and looked out the window on my side.

There stood MaryAnn, looking shocked, but angry. I unbuckled my seatbelt and motioned for her to move. Once she did, I opened the door.

"Who is _that _Isabella?"

"Isabella?" I heard Cole laugh from inside the car and I nearly lost it myself. MaryAnn only calls me Isabella when she is extremely angry at me. But it's very hard to take the 5'2" women seriously. She was pretty and she's my mother's cousin, so I've known her for longer than 2 years. I remember when I was younger how I hoped to one day look just like her. Now, at the age of 46, she was starting to lose her natural beauty. I once found a form for plastic surgery in her room while she was away. I immediately crumbled it up and threw it away.

I closed the car door so that Cole wouldn't be able to hear MaryAnn and I talk. "This is Michael, he was in my history class," I lied easily. My mom had warned MaryAnn about Cole and she told her that I was not allowed under any circumstances to see him or become romantically involved with him.

"Yeah right," she said sarcastically. "Your mother showed me pictures of that boy and even if she didn't, he's all over the news. 'Cole St. Claire, former singer of Narkotika, missing for 2 days now.'"

"Dammit," I muttered under my breath. "MaryAnn, please, my mom doesn't know what she's talking about and neither does my dad. She's-"

"No! I will not listen to you lie. Your mother is looking out for you, that's all. I've read some of the things that boy has done and I, personally, don't want you wrapped up in him."

"First of all, that boy's name is Cole. Second of all, you don't even know him. He is one of the smartest men I have ever met and he saved 2 of my friends' lives. _Third_ of all, if my mom _or _dad honestly cared about me, or anyone other than themselves, than they wouldn't have divorced and they wouldn't have left me here."

She realized there was no convincing me of leaving Cole, and that frustrated her, "Well, your parents left me as your guardian and _Cole_," she said his name like an insult, "is not allowed in this house."

I turned around and opened the door and spoke directly to Cole, "Sure, I'll come with you." I said calmly and he smiled. "Just give me one minute." I closed the door, and turned to MaryAnn, "I am 18 and old enough to do whatever shit pleases me," I said, quoting Cole. "And you don't pay for this property, my parents do, so if I invite Cole in, then he sure as hell can come in!" MaryAnn stood there frozen as I walked around to the side of the car.

I opened the door and Cole came out eagerly. MaryAnn and I were practically screaming so he most likely heard what we said. "Help me pack?" I asked him. He nodded and we both walked into the house grinning.

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I locked the door when we first got in my room and MaryAnn began shouting threats and insults at the both of us, but we both ignored her.

"Can you get the 4 suitcases down from the rack in my closet?"  
"Sure, no prob, but why do you have 4 suitcases?" He went to get them and when he came back, I said, "I have the biggest closet. That's my, Jack's, my mom's, and my dad's suitcases," I pointed to each one.

"We still have the house in Mercy Falls, and a lot of my stuff is still there, so I won't need everything. Just some clothes and other stuff."

"Okay, what do you want me to do?"

"Just open that top drawer and shove everything in it, in this suitcase. I don't care if it's not folded."

He began grabbing handfuls of clothes and throwing it in the bag. Once he got to the bottom, he found the gift that Ana got me for my last birthday. It was lingerie. He held it up and as soon as I saw it, I started laughing. Once he saw that I was laughing, he laughed too. "What the hell Isabel? 2 questions- how long have you had this? And have you ever used it?"

I laughed even harder. "Less than a year. My friend Ana got it for me as a joke for my birthday. I guess her and her boyfriend use lingerie, a lot. She didn't believe me when I said that I didn't have a boyfriend, so she got it for me and said it might help the status of my relationship with the boyfriend that she made up for me. So obviously, no I've never used it. You don't have to pack it," I said tears coming out of my eyes cause I was laughing so hard.  
"No! We are packing this. Got any more?"

"Cole, what the hell? Are you like a pervert or something?"

"No, I just don't want to see something that has such great potential go to waste." He winked at me and threw it in the suitcase. I rolled my eyes and didn't say anything after that.

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**Hope you liked it, this chapter was basically just to clarify that Isabel is going to Mercy Falls and the improve a little on Cole and Isabel's relationship. Hoped you liked it and please review, fav, or follow!**


	3. Late Conversations

******A/N: Hey guys! Thank you so so so much for the reviews! I'm so gald that my story is getting out there and I'm glad you guys like it. Please continue with your amazing support. It took me a while to get this third chapter up, but I receently went on a road trip so I was able ti not only write this chapter, but I also got a good chunk of the next chapter done. So make sure you keep your eyes peeled for Ch. 4. And as I ever, I don't own Shiver, Linger, Forever, Sinner, or any of its characters. And please, review, fav, and/or follow!**

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• Cole •

After 8 hours of driving, Isabel and I decided to pull into a hotel. The women at the front desk looked at me and smiled. Then she looked over at Isabel and her smile dropped, realizing that she stood no chance against Isabel. _Damn straight, my girlfriend is sexy, tall, smart, and funny. Wait. Are we dating? Is she my girlfriend? Shit, I really hope we are because not knowing 2 years ago was hell._

"Unfortunately we don't give rooms to minors, sorry." The woman said, not sorry at all.

"Well fortunately I'm 18 and Cole is 19. We have drivers' licenses, if you want to see them." Isabel said with as much sass as I've ever seen one person put into a single sentence.

"Well, obviously, I'll have to due to hotel policy." The woman replied with almost as much sass. But when Isabel said it, she sounded bad-ass. When this woman spoke, she sounded like a jealous 15 year old girl. I pulled out my driver's license and handed it to the woman.

"Cole St. Clair? From Narkotika?"

"Yea, well not anymore. I quit the band as of 8 days ago."

"Oh," she replied. At that moment Isabel pulled out her license and handed it to the woman.

"I'm Isabel," she said. I got a chill down my back.

"Well, if you 2 will just sign here stating you understand the hotel policy. And then I'll get you your room key."

"Thank you," Isabel said sourly, but signing the paper. I signed the paper as well and the woman handed me the key.  
"Enjoy,"

"We will." I replied suggestively. The girl stood there shocked at what I had just implied. But I didn't look at her; I just picked up the small bag Isabel wanted to bring into the hotel tonight. I wrapped my other hand around her waist and we headed towards our room.

We didn't speak on the way there, but as soon as I opened the door, Isabel launched into a full conversation.

"Can you believe we are actually doing this?" She laughed hysterically. "This is so cliché! 2 teens running away for 'true' love,"

"You're the one running away, Isabel. I'm just going home," I winked at her and she smiled. "And I don't think escaping from that evil witch of a maid, with an old fling, can be considered running away for true love."

"MaryAnn isn't usually like that. She just has had a really hard life. My parents actually gave her the job as a favor; she couldn't hold any other job and she desperately needed the money and a place to stay. For a while, _I _did more than she actually did. She never cleaned, but my parents and I never made a mess, so there was no need for cleaning. After a while, she picked herself up and started taking it more seriously. And she got extremely controlling. I think she got controlling because she didn't want to lose her job. She was terrified that I would do something stupid and my parents would blame her and fire her. If she was smart, she would've realized that my parents literally check in on me maybe once every 4 months?"

"Wow, that's awful. They are so different from when they left. I mean they sent you away. The least they could do is have the decency to continue to care for you after they ruin your life."

"I don't know, I didn't want them to care, and I got my wish. It's not as bad as I thought it would be, living without constant pressure of doing everything perfectly and being daddy's little princess."

I laughed, "Isabel, you're a princess on your own accord."

She smiled, "Well, I most certainly do not want to be anymore, at least not my parents little angel. I am so done with all the crap from my mom and dad and MaryAnn."

"Don't worry; you don't have to deal with them anymore." I wrapped my arm around her shoulder.

"Cole, what did you mean when you said old fling earlier?"

I looked away, "I, uh, meant to ask you. Are we dating?" I just blurted it out. I couldn't hold the burning curiosity inside me any longer and I didn't know how else to approach it. "Before, we never did anything… official, just… made out."

"Do you want to be a couple?" She asked.

"Only if you do. You were always so resistant towards me and I wondered if you actually had feelings for me."  
She chuckled, "Trust me, Cole; I definitely have feelings for you." She even blushed a little.

I smiled and brushed my hand against her cheek, "Good. And for the record, the feeling is definitely mutual."

She laughed and turned away trying to change the subject, "How much longer is the drive?"

"Probably about 5 hours tomorrow. C'mon, it's practically 1 in the morning. We have to go to bed if we want to get up early and get home to Mercy Falls."

She nodded, grabbed her bag and headed towards the bathroom to get changed.  
I let out a sigh of relief. Today has been a hell of a day. I leaned back and just as I was about to drift off, my phone started to ring. _Who the hell calls at 1 in the morning? _Once I saw Sam's caller ID I relaxed.

"Yo"

"Cole, where are you? Grace told me not to flip, but you've been gone for like 3 days now."

"I'm assuming you're calling 'cause Grace is asleep and won't catch you?"  
"Oh just shut up and answer my question."

"Fine, well to answer your question, I was in the sunny state of California earlier today, but now I'm-"

"With Isabel? I told you not to go to her. We've already screwed up her life enough. Don't bring her here, and if you do, she's staying with you."  
"Let me guess, you're don't actually care about_ her_ life or how we've messed it up, you are just worried about Grace coming home and you don't want any distractions."

"Of course I'm worried about Grace and of course I don't want distractions."

"Rango, Isabel is a perfectly fine, self-sustaining human being. She can take care of herself and she can make her own decisions. Besides, even if I told her myself that I didn't want her to come to Mercy Falls, she wouldn't go back to Orange County, that place was hell. Trust me, I've been there."

He sighed, "Whatever, will you just explain to her everything that's happened? I really won't have time to do it myself."

"Yep, will do. I was planning on explaining some of it tonight and a little bit tomorrow. Don't want to overwhelm her, ya know?"

"Ok, sure, whatever, I honestly don't care. Just make sure she knows all about Grace, Mae, and Kenny."

"I told you, I'll take care of it. Now go, go to bed and get some sleep. I don't know when Grace wakes up, but she is going to need you when she does."

He didn't respond, but just hung up the phone. I got up out of the hotel bed and knocked on the bathroom door.

"Be out in a minute," she said from inside. I laughed; she's been in there for at least 10 minutes. How long does the girl need to get changed? I wandered over to the bed side table and set the alarm clock to wake me up at 7:30. I felt Isabel's arms snake around my waist; I didn't hear her come out of the bathroom.

"Hey," I said laughing.

"Hi, I heard you talking. Were you on the phone?"

"Yea, Sam called me."

"Did you tell him?"

"What? That I'm with you and bringing you back with me? I began too, but then he figured it out for himself. I told you he would."

"Was he angry?" She asked nervously.

"Nah, don't worry about him. He's just concerned about Grace and he's not good at multitasking."

"Multitasking?"

"Yea, entertaining a guest and taking care of a recently awoken coma patient and a recent wolf survivor."

"So is being a wolf a syndrome now?"

I considered that for a second, "I'd say more like a disease. You can't be born with it; you get it by contracting the virus, or in this case, getting bitten by a wolf. And now there's a cure. So, I don't know about you, but I'm going to go with disease."  
She chuckled, "Ok," she let out a long yawn. "Well, I don't know about you," she smiled at me, "but I'm exhausted. I'm going to bed."  
"Ditto," I lied down on the bed and she lied down beside me. I wrapped my arm around her waist and pulled her close to me. It didn't take long for either of us to succumb to the land of dreams.

As the darkness surrounded my vision, I almost thought I heard Isabel say, "I'm scared." I brushed it off, thinking it was the beginning of my dream, and fell asleep.

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**A/N: Hope you all enjoyed it! Are you dying to know who Mae and Kenny are? Well, you're just going to have to wait. But don't worry, next chapter is in one of their POV! :). Finally thanks a million and please review, fav, and follow!**


	4. Stability

**A/N Hola! My apologizes for my inactiveness - school is intense. But I've been writing this one for a while and I think it's ready to be published. Its a lot shorter than usual just because I don't want to give away too much about what's going on and the new characters. Idk why, but it wouldn't let me publish an A/N for the last chapter. :/, regardless, thanks for your patience and I still do not own any of the old characters. Enjoy! **

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• Mae •

"This past winter was easier than the one 2 years ago." I said to Sam, whose sitting beside me on his couch.  
"Well 2 years ago was your first winter, of course it was harder," he snapped at me.  
I rolled my eyes, "When do you think Kenny is going to change?"  
"Kenny's weird. He changed to his human form late summer and didn't change back until the middle of winter. I have no idea how he does it. Same with you, you change early. You shifted in March and you've stayed human since then. And you change in early August; that's pretty early for a wolf."  
"But I haven't felt stable until these past 2 weeks. I wish I was like Kenny, I miss the winter."  
"You mean you miss Christmas?" He laughed.  
"Actually, no. I miss making snowmen and counting down to New Years the most. My parents used to let my sisters and I drink some champagne on New Year's."  
"Are you going to see them?"  
"Probably not, but I might go with Kenny to see his family." I said checking my phone. _He would call wouldn't he?_ I asked myself.  
"Please don't go with him. The last time his parents almost locked him in his room to keep him from leaving. I've told him this and I'll tell you it too: you need to say goodbye. I know you don't see your family as much as he does, but this has gone on too far. Eventually your parents are going to call the police, I'm surprised they haven't already."  
"My mom and dad wouldn't do that. I told them that if they ever question me as to why I leave during the winter months, they'll never see me again. I said, 'It's something I can't get out of. Something that I have no control over and it will only make it worse if you know what it is.'"  
"Essentially, they don't call the police or keep you captive because you threatened to never come back?"  
"You got it,"  
"Wow, good idea. I doubt Kenny's family would fall for that."  
"That's what he said when I suggested it to him. If anything, his folks would seriously lock him up then," I shrugged my shoulders.  
"Sam?" We both heard the voice done the hallway and before I could even look over at him, he was off the couch and running towards the room down the hall. I got up and slowly started walking towards Grace's room. I ended up walking in on the middle of a conversation.  
"Cole will be back with her probably tomorrow." Sam said quietly to Grace and she smiled. I almost forgot that Sam said that when Cole comes back, he is going to be with an old friend of Sam, Grace, and his.  
"I want to see her as soon as she gets here," Grace said and Sam nodded, "Can you help me get up?" She asked. I waited for Sam to respond, but then I realized she was talking to me.  
"Sure, no problem." I walked towards her, Sam moved out of the way slightly, but still hovered. She wrapped her arm around my neck and shoulder and I gently helped her lift herself from her bed. Once she was standing, she let go of me and grabbed the side of the bed for support.  
"How do you feel?" She asked me.  
I chuckled, "Shouldn't I be asking you that?" She didn't laugh, only looked at me, waiting for a serious answer. "Good, stable. You?"  
"Well, I don't feel like I'm gonna shift, but other than that, pretty crappy."  
"Do you want your pain medication?" Sam asked, concerned. Grace shook her head.  
"What do you want to do today?" I asked her, trying to cheer her up.  
"Mall?" She asked hopeful.  
"Sure!" I said handing her one crutch that she uses to walk.  
"I don't really think that's a good idea," Sam said cautiously. He knew Grace wouldn't care what he thought and I just want Grace to be happy. She's become almost like a sister to me; I used to sit and talk to her in her hospital room while she was unconscious. And when she woke up, nothing changed. She would listen to my stories and my problems, as if she didn't have any of her own, and we would just talk.

POV Switch- • Kenny •  
I can feel it. I feel my body's uncertainty. It's like standing on a ledge; you know you could fall off at any moment, but yet you still stand there for the thrill of it. I, however, don't have much of a choice in the matter. I think it's almost the end of May. _Mae_. Will I see her again? I hope so because we didn't really get a proper goodbye. I told her I would call her once I shifted back, but I have no idea where I am or where the nearest phone is. _Ah! _The tremors rip through my body again. Rip, that's a good word to describe the feeling. It feels like the animal inside of us is trying to rip its way out. I turn around, completely lost. The trees surrounding me long since blurred together. Regardless, I take off. Hopefully running will increase my body temperature and make me shift. The only problem after that, is staying human, but I'll face that when I get there. I look towards the sun; it's most likely a little past noon. If I'm going to shift today, it has to be soon so I have time to get somewhere useful. Otherwise, the night chill will set in and I'll shift back. I run faster, feeling my heart beat pound on and on inside my chest and I can hear my shallow breaths. The ripping starts again, and I have to fight my instincts to stop running. _No!_ Without looking, I run into a bush and fall into the lake on the opposite side of it. But that's not on my mind; my temperature got high enough on this May day and the shifting has begun.

* * *

**A/N, again sorry that this is about 500 words shorter than usual. Hopefully the next chapter will be longer. I know a few people have reviewed and told me to keep writing this. Feel free to give suggestions! This story isn't "set in stone". I'm always willing to hear your thoughts. Did anything surprise you? Did you think something else was going to happen? IF so, review and it might happen! Thanks a million!**


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